'Friends Of Hamas' Origin Story Exposes Fact That Some People Are Dumb Enough To Fall For Anything

Last week, we made note of the way the hearings on Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of Defense -- both within and outside the Senate chambers -- had reached an apotheosis of weird, with the discussion now basically centered on how it would be really bad for Hagel if any of the odd rumors about stuff he'd allegedly said or money he'd allegedly received turned out to be true.

Like, what if Hagel said that "the State Department has become adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Ministerís office?" And what if we all pretended that "adjunct to" meant "under the control of?" And what's this I hear about Iran "endorsing" Hagel? Isn't that a bad thing? Shouldn't we assume that is sincere, and not just some functionary in Iran, trying to bait a bunch of simpleton lawmakers?

One of the more fun rumors of this variety was that Chuck Hagel had received some money from an organization called "Friends of Hamas," a rumor which, if true, required a number of vastly strange things to happen. For instance, a bunch of guys who were "friends" of "Hamas" would have to be stupid enough to name their Hamas-supporting organization, "Friends of Hamas." Those people would then have to be stupid enough to give Hagel some money, for some reason. And then Hagel would have to be stupid enough to accept that money. And then a whole industry of agencies dedicated to elucidating the connections between political figures and the special interests that bankroll them would have to be stupid enough to not notice.

5. The Remnants Of The "Mighty Wurlitzer"...

...which did dominate the corporate media news cycles for many years during the dubya regime. Someone would "leak" some kind of scandalous story that would get picked up by some right wing blog that would end up on hate radio in the morning, amplified around on Faux noise and by the next evening it was a major story. Talking points were blast-faxed and the poutrage was assured to have legs. Many in bubbleworld still live that way...but the corporate media isn't biting like they used to.

Give credit to folks like Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz who helped turn MSNBC into a credible and competitive counterweight to the right wing noise and create a "safe" place for beltway stenographers to opine without sticking to the talking points du jour. Folks like Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Dave Letterman, Conan, Fallon and other late night comics also deserve some props as they exposed the hypocrisies to a younger generation that laughs at the talking points. Also to the netroots and places like DU that fueled the need and demand for a better and more objective media.